Eidsivating was the name of one of the original Norwegian popular assemblies or ''

Things Things or The Things may refer to: Music * ''Things'' (album), by Uri Caine and Paolo Fresu, 2006 * "Things" (Bobby Darin song), 1962; covered by Ronnie Dove, 1975 * "Things", a song by Joe Walsh from '' There Goes the Neighborhood'', 1981 * "Thi ...

''. Historically, it was the site of court and assembly for the eastern parts of Norway.

Summary

Traditionally, Eidsivating was the court for the population around Lake

Mjøsa Mjøsa is Norway's largest lake, as well as one of the deepest lakes in Norway and in Europe. It is the fourth-deepest lake in Norway. It is located in the southern part of Norway, about north of the city of Oslo. Its main tributary is the riv ...

. Eidsivating was originally situated at

Åker gård Åker is the Norwegian and Swedish word for a Field. It may also refer to: * Åker Ship District, an area in Uppland, Sweden * Jon Åker (1927–2013), Norwegian hospital director See also * Åkre (disambiguation) Åkre or Aakre may refer to: ...

, the seat of Vang in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merg ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. When

was united as a kingdom, the first

lagting Lagting, literally "Law Ting", can refer to: *Lagting, the Parliament of Åland *Lagting (Norway), the quasi-upper house of the Parliament of Norway from 1814 to 2009 *Løgting The Løgting (pronounced ; da, Lagtinget) is the unicameral parl ...

s were constituted as superior regional assemblies, Eidsivating being one of them. These were representative assemblies at which delegates from the various districts in each region met to award legal judgments and pass laws (''Eidsivatingloven''). Later, during the time of

St. Olav Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perp ...

, the court was moved to Eidsvold. The jurisdiction of the court was then extended to include Romerike and

Hadeland Hadeland () is a traditional district in the southeastern part of Norway. It is centered on the southern part of the large lake Randsfjorden in Innlandet and Viken counties. The district consists of the municipalities Gran in Innlandet county ...

as well as

. Later

Østerdalen Østerdalen () is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, in Eastern Norway. This area typically is described as the large Glåma river valley as well as all its tributary valleys. It includes the municipalities Rendalen, Alvda ...

and

Gudbrandsdalen Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending towa ...

were also included. The ancient regional assemblies – Frostating, Gulating, Eidsivating and Borgarting – were eventually joined into a single

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Ju ...

. King Magnus Lagabøte had the existing body of law put into writing (1263–1280). In 1274, Magnus promulgated the new national law ('' Magnus Lagabøtes landslov''), a unified code of laws to apply for the Kingdom of Norway, including the

Faroe islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

and

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

. This compilation of the codified Gulating laws (''Gulatingsloven'') applied throughout the realm was exceptional for its time. This code remained in force until Frederik III, king of the

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from thi ...

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more State (polity), states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some e ...

, promulgated absolute monarchy in 1660. Peder Schumacher Griffenfeld prepared a document which would form the King's Law (''Kongeloven'') dated 14 November 1665. This was codified in the King Act of 1665 which functioned as the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

of the Union of Denmark-Norway until 1814. ''Kongeloven'' (Store norske leksikon)
/ref>

References

Other sources

*Andersen, Per Sveaas (1977) ''Samlingen av Norge og kristningen av landet : 800–1130'' (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget) *Larson, Laurence Marcellus (2011) ''The Earliest Norwegian Laws'' (The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd)

External links

Åker gård i Hamar
Legal history of Norway Thing (assembly) Eidsvoll {{Norway-hist-stub

Summary

See also

References

Other sources

Further reading

External links